Friday, May 23, 2008

If you know one thing about Buckeye fans besides their love of the F-bomb and a genetic need to fan out across the Internet in order to rebut any perceived slight against their university, you know they are very particular about their school name.

It's not Ohio State, it's always THE Ohio State University. Just ask them, they'll tell you loudly and in your face, the stench of Grey Goose vodka nearly overpowering.

Apparently, after years of folks confusing OSU with Ohio University or some other public institution of higher learner in the Buckeye state -- or maybe people simply referring to the school as "an Ohio state university" -- they became very militant about the "THE."

That's why, when uber-QB Terrell Pryor announced he was signing with the Buckeyes some 36 months and 58 press conferences after most high school players revealed their decisions, we were quite surprised when the prized student-athlete got one teenie, tiny thing wrong that day: namely, the name of the prestigious college football factory in Columbus he was signing with. In revealing his intentions, Pryor referred to our rivals to the south(east-ish) as "University of Ohio State." And nary a "the" to be found.

Genius.

Thus, in the interest of needling our rivals where it annoys them most since we can't seem to beat them on the football field anymore, we here at the MZone have taken time out from cruising the Internet for free porn our busy schedules to design a new logo for the Bucks and their outstanding but name-challenged quarterback. Behold...

And from this point forward, we will now refer to them here as UOS or THE University of Ohio State, aka Tuos.

Are we sure that Pryor wasn't just trying to screw with us when he said "The University of Ohio State?" I think Pryor might have just been trying to give us false hope by starting with "The University of..." and then ending with "Ohio State." Is there any proof that this wasn't his intent?

Don't get me wrong. I hate Pryor. I never wanted him at Michigan, so I'm happy he's taking his diva act to another school.

And Yost.....you had to go and add the "since we can't beat them on the football field" wtf? With all of these UOS guys on here.....you realize what this thread is going to turn into now? I can't watch!

Please point my to one instance where an OSU fan has objected to the omission of "The" from the name of the school. I certainly don't. To the contrary, I find that disgruntled fans of other schools are, in fact, the ones who raise a big stink about this. More particularly, fans of other schools who are grasping at straws for a way to deflect from their less-than-stellar recent record against their rival.

The simple fact of the matter is that "The Ohio State University" is the official, legal name of the school, as it appears in the charter. Most schools, as I understand it, do not have a "the." I don't know why it was put in our charter, but it is The Name of our school. Perhaps you should get more educated on this point before you go spouting off.

Also, for the record, if you want to call us "The University of Ohio State" based upon the single statement of a recruit who is not yet even a student of our school, please go ahead. Wow - you switched the order of some words in our name. That really hurts.

Holy Cow!Gas station attendants?How old are you?Gas station attendants were long gone before I was even born.If I wasn't so well-rounded I wouldn't even have known what you were talking about.And BTW, is it really safe for you to be using your laptop when you are driving?

Mike - so your point is that "uneducated" posts are OK, since this is a UM board. I am not here to posts insults about UM, which I respect as an institution, but your comments make no sense. Somehow I doubt many commenting here went to UM.

Hmm Al,After re-reading your original post you seem a little bit touchy.When I was in the Army every officer candidate from The University of Ohio State was an annoying pain in the butt when they would emphasize that they were from THE Ohio State University. How tiresome the 547th time you've heard it.YOU may not emphasize it but you would be the only one.And what exactly are you doing here trolling the Mich website and then claiming that they are "grasping at straws for a way to deflect from their less-than-stellar recent record against their rival."Last I checked they weren't the one who got butt****ed on national television. Again.

Catie - I still doubt it. And if it is true, then it is an unfortunate reflection upon the institution.

Look, I'm not trying to get into a flame war here. All I am saying is there is a reason why people say "The" since it is our university name. I, personally, don't like it when someone places emphasis on the word "The" when speaking. That is pompous. But someone wants to call the Univesity by its proper name, I hardly see that as an issue.

Brian,I couldn't care less about this Michigan vs Ohio State thing.But if you can't see how hilarious it is to have the heralded recruit mis-speak the cherished name of the university you need to get your funny bone checked.

Al, I could name a dozen posters that are alumni (including the owner of said blog) and I myself am working on my PhD at the UofM AND...excuse me but this blog is meant to have some FUN, often at the expense of UOS, (it IS a Michigan Blog) as I have said to those before you.....if you don't like it.....don't come here!

I understand fully that the "legal" name of UOS begins with THE and you may be the exception of UOS fans who "don't like it being emphasized", however even YOU say that football players emphasize it on Monday night football.

Catie - when I say I didn't mean to start a flame war, I mean simple name calling, which you have not engaged in.

As far as staying away from what I don't like, I do do that. My initial post was to simply bring some factual perspective to the issue.

The initial post on this blog did not take issue with people verbally empahsizing the term "the," but instead took the position all OSU fans/grads cry foul when that term is omitted. I don't think this is true. I've also been surrouded, obviously, for years and years with OSU grads who are friends. I've never heard a single one call it "THE Ohio State Unversity," emphasizing "The."

Finally, anectodal evidence that some poster here are grads doesn't answer the question. As you know. Anyway, my intial post said that I "doubt" most posting here are grads - hardly "spouting off" as you have phrased it. In any case, there is nothing unusual here. Nearly all fan boards have significantly non-alumni contributors.

Incidently, Penn State is The Pennsylvania State University, they just don't get uppity about the long version of their name.

Its as if the Ohioans who do that are compensating for something....

Also, there are at least 6 state universities in Ohio (many that are older and frankly, better academically than tOSU).

As for me. I care not for the whole idea of UOS. I refuse to pay attention to the jumbled words of an 18 year old who clearly has a jones for getting lots of attention. I will not be one of his enablers.

Ok Al, I have much to get done today, so this is it for me. I do need to just point out that no where in Yost's post does it say ALL UOS fans. He is talking in generalities. Perhaps, (humor me here) is it possible that UOS fans when they get together don't need to emphasize THE because that is just a given, and that is why you don't hear them say it? As Michigan fans (wether or not we have attended the University) hear enough bullshit from UOS fans, isn't it possible that we DO hear it, OFTEN?

I have a feeling that you have not met Surrounded in Columbus (Sic) He lives in Columbus as a UofM fan, I am certain when he weighs in on this he might have some first hand knowledge to pass along.

"excuse me but this blog is meant to have some FUN, often at the expense of UOS, (it IS a Michigan Blog) as I have said to those before you.....if you don't like it.....don't come here!"

Al, THAT is exactly what I meant by my first comment.

Thank you for wording it clearer, Catie.

I don't partake in name calling or verbal attacks on blogs. I just don't get why rival fans come on here and post responses to articles meant to get a rise and a laugh from other Michigan fans. As catie put it, if you don't like the jokes, then don't partake in the discussion.

I did not attend UM, but have been a life-long fan since my dad is an alum. I would have loved for nothing more than to attend the school, but out of state tuition was too much for me to afford, so I attended Miami University of Ohio instead. Therefore, saying "Somehow I doubt many commenting here went to UM," while maybe meant to be a clever jab at me, actually is not insulting to me at all. It is a great institution and has a great football team with an extraordinary amount of tradition. Because I did not attend the school doesn't mean I am any less of a fan.

Maybe you do hear it often. If it is done to sound pompous, then I would not condone it. However, most of the time I see it is simply because it is the name of the university, which cannot be faulted IMO.

gh - You are wrong. OSU is, according to US News and World report, ranked higher than all other ohio state schools. My quick search found OSU as the 19th ranked public university in the US, higher than any other in-state school (this was 2006 - didn't take the time to find 2008, but don't think relative rankings changed). You may disagree with USNWR but I doubt any other in-state schools are more highly ranked elsewhere.

Finally, back to one of my original points, have fun with "UOS." Maybe we will start calling you "Michigan University." Just think how much that will hurt.

Al, almost lifelong Columbus resident here, and full lifelong UM fan as well. You don't know many Buckeyes that insist on calling it THE Ohio State University?

What part of town are you hanging out in, because I need to get there more often. I work with (too) many Buckeyes, and have a few in the family. They're always using THEE.

Is someone going to correct me if I say "Ohio State"? No. But you can be damn sure that if they use the full name, they're saying THEE Ohio State University. It's some sort of sick inside joke that really isn't even that funny even to the people on the inside.

Couple of things, the 'THE' thing. As i was said its in the University's charter as 'THE.' For some reason when it was founded the state said they had to put that in as a way to distinguish it from OU. Not sure if this is the same for Penn State v. Penn.

As for the pronunciation, the prominent 'THEEEEEE', well thats simple. When you say the word THE in front of a word that starts with a vowel, its THEE, with the exception of the pronunciation of U that makes it sound like a Y. such as in 'The University', as opposed to 'The(e) unorthodox.' I'm just assuming that the proper pronunciation was just accented for whatever reason over the years, probably as a reply to 'THEE U' aka Thug U. Granted, I haven't been around long enough to know if people were saying THEE OSU before THEE U.

One last thing, The logo is funny, but you might not want to put it on a shirt. I've had to deal with trademark and licensing here at OSU, and they will come down hard on anything that comes close to a logo, especially if you're trying to sell it. It is funny though, so props to you!

Catie - if your recruits were high profile enough to merit a press conference (or two), I'll bet we would find many of them could barely pronounce the school name, let along get the order of words right.

You also can figure out if you read my posts long enough that I often use the wrong word when using "then" or than". One of those little quirks that my brain just gets turned around for some strange reason.

i'm not sure that a fan of a school that has 80% of their football team as kinesiology or general studies majors would want to make fun of any other school's academic programs. especially after they interviewed that former player that took 3 full classes (classes not credit hours) of some ancient indian language, got a's in all 3 classes, yet couldn't even remember ONE word of the language when questioned by that reporter. hell he didn't even try to ad lib "UGG" or "HOW".

a few questionable ones to be sure, then again with 2.4 times the number of Academic All Conference players, you'll get some of that. Notice however that most of them have normal majors that most people had when I was in college - Business, Finance, Marketing, etc, etc, etc.

UM had 2 General Studies, 2 Undeclared, 2 Kinesiology, and an American Culture in their 10. those ratios pretty much went hand in hand with the Ann Arbor News' findings for the entire team.

also, for what it's worth because i thought it was hilarious too at first - Beanie Wells' "exploring" major is akin to "undeclared" at Michigan. thank god you can look that up or you guys woulda had a field day with that!

Michigan's undergrad B-school is ranked #6 in the nation. OSU's is #43. (Miami is #17, btw, for all you Miami haters out there.) When commenting on OSU Business Week said "Honors accounting program is praised, but profs should spend more time teaching and less time on research."

And that's not meant to be dismissive Sru, your numbers are interesting, but I think it would be more comparable to find something that Michigan is mediocre in and see how many of our players major in that. OR to see how many of your players major in a program of yours that's 6th in the nation if you have one. Is OSU good at anything? Then we'd be comparing apples to apples.

no sic, you're supposed to be impressed that 24 of osu's football players were named to the All Academic team by the Big Ten while only 10 of Michigan's were.

you said you'd welcome any comparison to the two schools' academic programs - obviously a far greater number of our football players are excelling in the classroom, as measured by the Big Ten. The majors were just icing

Don't you think that it would be easier for more athletes to achieve the GPA required to make the Big 10 Academic list at OSU as opposed to Michigan? Sure, athletes at Michigan are going to try to get in easier classes, as are athletes at most schools, but the "cupcake classes" at Michigan are not as easy as you may think. I have never taken a class at OSU (thankfully), so I can't compare levels of difficulty, but I have been in easy 100 level classes with football players at Michigan and watched students who got in based on academic merit struggle. I'm sure any Big 10 college is going to mildly difficult, but considering Michigan is the third ranked public school in the country, I think it would be easier to achieve a higher GPA at OSU and make the Big 10 academic list.

Can OSU fans now refer to our team as THE U? Because I don't think Da U will mind us stealing its lingo since its been MIA (get it?...oh I'm so clever) since that flag hit the turf at the Fiesta Bowl 5 years ago.

Why do rival fans post, commenting on an article posted on a UM blog that is directed at their school?"

Dezzi - Simple. Because I started the whole thing with my post in this thread attacking tUOS fans. You can find it....wait....hold on a minute...I know I told them to go f**k themselves somewhere....hmmmm. Well, I just know it's my fault - you'll have to take their...er, I mean, my word for it.

Sru, I am assuming you linked to Carty's article. Trust me, that was not a factual article. He needs to go down to Columbus and write for the Dispatch along with Drew Sharp, as neither one of them is unbiased when it comes to UofM.

Actually, i just post on here now and then because i enjoy the blog, even though i am a Buckeye. I expect the occasional jabs, and defend my school when i feel that I must, but I don't think i've ever gotten out of hand. I try to be an example for certain fans who do tend to take things too far.

I just flew into Chicago last night, and while I was waiting for my flight to get to the gate, I had to do my usual "stop at the bookstand and pick what magazine sticks out to me" purchase. Fortunately, I caught sight of a Lindy's College Football 2008 Preview.

After flipping through the "Georgia and LSU are amazing, OSU is stacked" articles, I made my way to the page preview on Michigan to see what they had to say(preseason ranked 31? That seems high to me for a wild card). I read under their primary strength that:

"The defense is loaded, and will need to carry the Wolverines as the offense adapts to Rodriguez's spread system. All four starters are back along the line, including the super-talented Brandon Graham. Donovan Warren, a sophmore, could blossom into the team's best corner since Heisman Trophy winner Charles Woodson."

That was surprising to me. I haven't heard/ read anything about Warren in the offseason, and they're talking like their defense will be as strong as 2006's, minus the big name LB's.

Anybody have any more information on this? If the defense is supposed to be solid, maybe I'll stop stressing out about the offense... yes, I know it's only May.

I was fully EXPECTING Pryor to start with "University of ..." if he had picked OSU. I see jasylonian was on the same track as me.

Some other recruit from Columbus did the same thing a number of years back. He had to decide between two schools and had dragged out the decision past signing day. Then he intentionally said "University of ..." before naming a school that traditionally ends with "University" to add suspense. Of course he didn't have ESPN hanging on his every word, so it might have gone unnoticed by many outside the Columbus area. So when I heard Pryor picked us, but said the name wrong, I wasn't the least bit surprised. I would even bet that someone talked him into doing it.

Has anyone actually heard anything from him commenting on this? I haven't seen him say that he made a mistake, so I'm still under the impression it was intentional.

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